Chewy Tropical Granola Bars with barkTHINS Coconut Almond Topping

I have been wanting to try making my own granola for a long time. Again, it was one of those things that I felt intimidated by for some reason. After making it once I see how crazy easy it is and how good it came out. Everyone seemed to love it, especially Brian! Which means I probably will be making granola weekly and there goes one of my store bought staples!

I did some research before I dove into a recipe. I read an article on Bon Appetit’s Web Site about mistakes commonly made when making granola. This helped when I was brainstorming what ingredients to use and gave me more confidence playing with the recipe. After baking the granola I decided to sprinkle roughly chopped coconut almond barkTHINS ontop. This took the granola bars from good to AH-MAZING. Some of the smaller pieces melted in while the larger pieces stayed intact giving the bars a chocolate crunch. Although they can be eaten in bar form I was till able to crumble it up and put it in my yogurt this morning!

Preheat the oven for 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish lining it with parchment paper as well.

In a bowl combine the oats and almonds. Then spread the dry mixture out onto the baking sheet. Toast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Then set aside. Turn the oven temperature down to 325 degrees.

In a small pot over medium-low heat combine the coconut oil, honey, and brown sugar. Periodically stir it and let it heat until the sugar is dissolved. It takes about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the salt, stir to incorporate.

Pour a little bit of coconut oil in a large bowl and then wipe it with a paper towel to coat the inside of the bowl. Then add your oats & almonds, along with the pineapple, coconut, papaya, chia/flax seeds. Mix together.

Add your brown sugar mixture to the oat mixture and stir together until well combined. The mixture should be sticking together.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Pressing it down with the back of the spatula to make an even surface and spread it throughout the pan.

Bake it in the oven for 10 minutes. Take it out and let it cool for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle the chopped barkTHINS over the top. It is okay if they melt into the granola. Then place it in fridge for an hour covered. Cut them into bars or bite size pieces if preferred after you take them out of the fridge!